OPINION:
Earlier this week, President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team issued an ominous warning to all Department of Justice career attorneys: You risk losing your jobs if you resist the Trump agenda come January.
Less than 48 hours later, special counsel Jack Smith — who has been overseeing the prosecution of Mr. Trump in the classified documents and Jan. 6 cases — announced that he and his team would be stepping down before Mr. Trump takes office. However, the effects of Mr. Trump’s courage may have consequences far greater than we think.
This is because there is a class of hapless victims that have been shoved aside during the Biden years: children who are being sex-trafficked in the Democratic-led family courts in cities where the illegal drug trade is most active. Behests for an investigation have been made by lawmakers, private attorneys, forensic experts and scholars.
But Attorney General Merrick Garland’s staff, often accused of shielding Mr. Garland from communications originating from outside the department, has been swift to deny them all.
Last year, for example, a prominent forensic expert who urged Mr. Garland to have the department investigate “bad actors who appear to have penetrated various court institutions … [and] pose a serious hazard to children throughout the country,” was quickly told to go elsewhere.
Mr. Trump has placed career DOJ attorneys on notice. Child sex trafficking in drug trade hubs serves as a front-burner item on the Republican agenda. If Mr. Garland and his department do not confront this horrific scandal in the family courts posthaste, I’m afraid their legacy will be that of bloodstained hands. The clock is ticking, but Mr. Garland can still make this right.
AMY NEUSTEIN
Fort Lee, New Jersey
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